Looking Forward

You just never know what the weather will be like (inside the house!)  She loves to dress up.  And when left alone comes up with some adorable fashion statements.  Those are my shoes under there.  Of course the Q tip is for added effect!

We lost "Rose Bunny" our treasured lovie for about two days.  When I went on a top to bottom search of the house I found her located in this cabinet!  Apparently someone put her to sleep in here, but later forgot! 

 Huahua continues to be a social butterfly at church events.  Here at the grand prix she was taking pictures till someone got the camera and took one of her and her siblings.


Huahua with multiple stickers all over her body and clothes!  The paper is stuck half way in her pants--very resourceful.  I think it might be a survival tactic from life in the orphanage!  She also carries things tucked between her neck and shoulder to keep her hands free, or to carry additional things.









Some disappointing news today....Her red blood cell count, including her hemoglobin and hematocrit levels continue to be higher than expected for her level of cyanosis.  I guess they expect it to be somewhat elevated due to her heart/ low oxygen level, but right now it is way too high.  Earlier this month we weaned her off some medication hoping the levels would come down.  Unfortunately, they did not.  Her platelet level did come down to an acceptable level though.   We know she will need her fontan procedure, and these tests along with her daily functioning and oxygen level will help them determine the timing.  We are thankful she is home and have to remind ourselves that she now has access to the best medical care.  Her adoption was expedited and we can be thankful she has time to become comfortable with us before her next big surgery.

So that bring me to Selah---HEARTS FOR SELAH!!!!
There is a little girl, an orphan girl in China right now awaiting her first heart surgery, awaiting her first surgery so that someday she may have the chance to one day have a family.  Our fundraiser is set for March 9-- also Huahua's 3rd birthday!  How fitting that maybe her life saving surgery,donated by strangers, will spark the efforts of Huahua's family and friends for the next little orphan---Selah.  This is her picture her below.   If you are not able to attend, please consider an online donation at http://unadopted.org/donate-2/
Please put Selah in the message area.  We need to raise $10,000 for this little girl.  That is nothing for a precious life and the joy she will one day bring to her family!  (Donations are tax deductable)

 Snuggle time in bed with Jordan reading books, but she still loves to sleep snuggled between Mom and Dad.  I love having her there too.  Last night she woke up in the middle of the night, and lightly tapped me and said " Mommy I love you"  So sweet.  She still awakes crying at night occasionally, but we are right there to comfort her and she usually quickly falls back to sleep.


She is potty training her baby doll :)

Finally took some family pictures...even gou thought he should be in them!

Settling into our daily routine-lots of pictures

A deep belly laugh has emerged the past few weeks.  A true relaxed laugh-my interpretation- I am happy, comfortable with you---I love you as my people, Huahua's family!  She will repeat over and over the names of everyone, as if processing this to be really true.  She likes to imitate us as we pray and tends to repeat everything we say.  She likes to "pray" herself giving thanks for her family.  I have watched her transform over the last two months and am so excited to see where her little spirit will grow into. She initiates the contact between us more and runs to us with arms wide open with an "I Lub (love) you"  When Daddy arrives home from work, she has her list of games ready for him.  1,2,3 which is a toss in the air. and many many Daddy only games! She trusts us as her family.  She looks for us for comfort, despite the numerous pokes and blood draws we have endured already, but yet seems to know we love her unconditionally and will not hurt her unnecessarily and promise to walk beside her during the painful parts too.

A balloon from shopping at World of Variety.  Again people just fall in love with her and give her not just one balloon, but two.  Blue is her favorite color.  (She knows most of her colors in English and Chinese)  So of course the next time were in the store she expected a balloon!  I told her sorry not today.  :(

Special sister moments....lots of baths and play time.   It's hard to tell if Huahua has a favorite because she shares different special moments with each sibling.  The girls love the girly things and dancing around, being silly and loud!

Candy is our commodity around here, specifically
 M & M's.  But she's learned her colors and counting (up to 12) and we can usually limit them with choices!

-----------PURE JOY----------
Pictures like this solidify our decision 100 times over.  People ask how are the other kids doing with the adoption?  They are smitten by her, loving the opportunity to teach her everything they know at their fragile young ages. She is always a willing participant in everything they want to do- never a foul mood (unless she is tired or hungry).   Like I told Ryan when you bring home a new born sibling from the hospital, they just lay there, poop, eat and take up all Mom's time,  This time around they are all excited because she plays, talks, and laughs at theirs jokes. Pure Joy!

 How do you give four children a bath?  Trust me it really doesn't save any time and it creates a really big mess to do it this way.

 But there are lots of bubbles, giggles and memories to be made.....

 Peek a boo is a favorite game.  She loves to snuggle with her siblings.  Justin is a great big brother!

 Wherever we go she assimilates into the group as if she meant to be there.  She's confident of herself and has a commanding presence. Maybe she's just pushy, but I'll go with confident and people tend to gravitate to her.  Other kids love to play with her. Justin's basketball teammates (as well as many of the other kids at school) have taken to her. She hangs out at the BB games watching her brother play.  She will yell for Justin and Daddy (he's coaching) during the game. So sweet.  At this one game she climbed up the bleachers and plopped down next to these girls!

Here's her self dressed personality.  Lots of bling and mis-matched mittens, but when you look this good, you can pull it off.

Huahua has this fascination with Q tips.  And so it seems to work for her to gently place them in her ears!

Awaiting more shots at the doctor's office....she's onto us and would not leave my lap.  At least she would still smile.  She's so forgiving of all the medical trauma.

Ms. Personality---entertaining the living room.  She never stops to amaze me.  Tonight she brought the bath stool to the kitchen counter, pulled the valentine's candy over and helped herself.  She looked over at me and said with a piece of candy in her hand "chocolate mommy, please?"  How do you resist that sweet smile???

Yes, we are  implementing discipline, but she's got the manipulation down to a tee and just so cute :)

After church on Sunday we celebrated her two month anniversary of gotcha day---Feb 16th, 2014.... AT Taco Bell for lunch.  Seems to be one of her favorites!  I know we go way out for celebrations..., but we even went inside to eat (instead of the van).  The kids thought that was a real treat too! We had our own special round table just for our family :) Jackson enjoyed taking care of his baby sister and together they shared a frosty red drink.

As we near Huahua's third birthday we have so much to celebrate.  We celebrate the opportunity to become Huahua's family and we celebrate that someone saw in her the potential of a life to be saved.  Someone went out of their way to put aside their selfish needs and give to her so that she might bring joy to our family and glory to God.  So as we look to celebrate her life and her joining our family, our church is going to start to plan a celebration.  Details are to be planned out very soon...the bottom line is we are going to pass forward this blessing to another little girl, named Selah, whose heart is broken like Huahua's.  She will not survive without the surgery.  She needs it to save her life.  One day I want her Mommy to look back and know that we, Huahua's friends, family and community, wrapped our arms of love around her, before her Mommy even laid eyes on her, before she held her sweet hand, we cared for her as our own.  This is the love of God being shown to one orphan initially, but will extend to her care takers, adoptive family and community and bring glory to God around the world.  Will you join me in honoring babies born with heart conditions by giving sweet Selah a chance at joy and a chance to be adopted?